Systems and methods for telephone number provisioning and telephony management

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer-readable are provided for telephone number provisioning. A user interface configured to provide access to telephony information may be facilitated. The telephony information may be retained in a telephony information repository. Information about a first location may be processed. A region of interest may be determined. A set of telephony information may be processed based on the region of interest. Telephone number inventory corresponding to the region of interest may be determined based part on the set of telephony information. Telephone number inventory may be categorized according to availability to determine a first set of telephone numbers. Local calling characteristics may be determined. Indication to the user interface of availability of telephone numbers within the region of interest based on the first set of telephone numbers and the local calling characteristics may be caused. The user interface may present graphical indicia that distinguishes the local calling characteristics.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/881,885, filed Sep. 24, 2013, entitled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR TELEPHONE NUMBER PROVISIONING AND TELEPHONY INFORMATIONMANAGEMENT,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates in general to telephony, and, morespecifically, but not by way of limitation, to systems and methods fortelephone number provisioning and telephony management.

Previously, provisioning of telephone numbers often has involved asignificant time, effort, and hassle, including a manual processinvolving the filling out of forms and various inconveniences associatedwith working with a phone number vendor. For example, a member of asales department of a business entity requiring phone numbers could havebeen required to fill out forms and send the forms to others that wouldneed to go to a telephony vendor site, provide information to thevendor, and secure phone numbers. Information supplied to a vendor maywell have included internal information, such as customer ID, customername, address, telephone directory with which the customer isassociated, product which the customer bought, etc. The vendor may wellhave supplied all the reporting based on the information that wasprovided to the vendor. Such provisioning has entailed significanthassle and undesirable information sharing.

Additionally, with respect to phone numbers being assigned to particularend-users, there have been problems associated with the phone numberassignments. For example, when obtaining a new mobile phone number, asubscriber may be given multiple number options, but the subscriber maynot know if the numbers correspond to the subscriber's current city or aneighboring city. The subscriber may choose a number that does not matchthe current city, and, when the subscriber places calls from the number,the caller ID on the receiving end may incorrectly indicate thesubscriber's city.

Thus, there is a need for solutions to problems associated withobtaining and provisioning telephone numbers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the appendedfigures.

FIG. 1 depicts a high-level block diagram of a system, in accordancewith certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts an example method of telephone number provisioning, inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3 through 8 depict screenshots illustrating example interfaces andfeatures for telephone number provisioning and/or telephony informationmanagement, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 9 through 12 depict screenshots illustrating example callscapeinterfaces for accessing telephony details for telephone numberprovisioning and/or telephony information management, in accordance withcertain embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 depicts a high-level block diagram of a telephony managementsystem, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 14 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system,in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of a special-purposecomputer system, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure relate in general totelephony, and, more specifically, but not by way of limitation, tosystems and methods for telephone number provisioning and telephonymanagement.

In one aspect, method for telephone number provisioning is disclosed.The method may include one or a combination of the following, which maybe performed via a telephony management system. A user interfaceconfigured to provide access to telephony information may befacilitated. At least some of the telephony information may be retainedin a telephony information repository. Information about a firstlocation specified for an entity and/or an individual may be processed.A region of interest may be determined based at least in part on thefirst location. A set of telephony information retained in the telephonyinformation repository may be processed based at least in part on theregion of interest. Telephone number inventory corresponding to theregion of interest may be determined based at least in part on the setof telephony information. The determining the telephone number inventorymay include categorizing at least some of the telephone number inventoryaccording to availability of telephone numbers to determine a first setof telephone numbers, the first set of telephone numbers being availablefor assignment. Local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers may be determined. Indication to the user interface ofavailability of telephone numbers for assignment within the region ofinterest based at least in part on the first set of telephone numbersand the local calling characteristics of the first set of telephonenumbers may be caused. The user interface may present graphical indiciathat distinguishes the local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers.

In another aspect, a system for telephone number provisioning isdisclosed. One or more network interfaces may be configured to provideaccess to one or more networks. One or more processors may be coupled tothe one or more network interfaces, the one or more processors toexecute instructions to perform one or a combination of the following. Auser interface configured to provide access to telephony information maybe facilitated. At least some of the telephony information may beretained in a telephony information repository. Information about afirst location specified for an entity and/or an individual may beprocessed. A region of interest may be determined based at least in parton the first location. A set of telephony information retained in thetelephony information repository may be processed based at least in parton the region of interest. Telephone number inventory corresponding tothe region of interest may be determined based at least in part on theset of telephony information. The determining the telephone numberinventory may include categorizing at least some of the telephone numberinventory according to availability of telephone numbers to determine afirst set of telephone numbers, the first set of telephone numbers beingavailable for assignment. Local calling characteristics of the first setof telephone numbers may be determined. Indication to the user interfaceof availability of telephone numbers for assignment within the region ofinterest based at least in part on the first set of telephone numbersand the local calling characteristics of the first set of telephonenumbers may be caused. The user interface may present graphical indiciathat distinguishes the local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers. One or more storage media may be coupled to the oneor more processors to retain the instructions.

In yet another aspect, one or more non-transitory, machine-readablemedia are provided. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readablemedia have machine-readable instructions thereon which, when executed byone or more processing devices, may cause the one or more processingdevices to perform one or a combination of the following. A userinterface configured to provide access to telephony information may befacilitated. At least some of the telephony information may be retainedin a telephony information repository. Information about a firstlocation specified for an entity and/or an individual may be processed.A region of interest may be determined based at least in part on thefirst location. A set of telephony information retained in the telephonyinformation repository may be processed based at least in part on theregion of interest. Telephone number inventory corresponding to theregion of interest may be determined based at least in part on the setof telephony information. The determining the telephone number inventorymay include categorizing at least some of the telephone number inventoryaccording to availability of telephone numbers to determine a first setof telephone numbers, the first set of telephone numbers being availablefor assignment. Local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers may be determined. Indication to the user interface ofavailability of telephone numbers for assignment within the region ofinterest based at least in part on the first set of telephone numbersand the local calling characteristics of the first set of telephonenumbers may be caused. The user interface may present graphical indiciathat distinguishes the local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers.

In various embodiments, one or more of the telephone numbers may beidentified based at least in part on a user selection. The one or moreof the telephone numbers may be assigned to the entity and/or theindividual. In various embodiments, the entity and/or the individual andthe information about the first location correspond to a business. Invarious embodiments, the information about the first location may bebased at least in part on first user input responsive to a first set ofone or more user-selectable options being presented via the userinterface. In various embodiments, one or more rate centerscorresponding to the region of interest may be identified based at leastin part on the set of telephony information. The determining thetelephone number inventory may include determining the telephone numberinventory with respect to at least one of the one or more rate centers.

In various embodiments, target information corresponding to the regionof interest may be processed. The target information may specify atarget rate center. The determining the local calling characteristics ofthe first set of telephone numbers may be based at least in part onusing the target rate center as a point of reference. In variousembodiments, the target information may be derived from second userinput responsive to a second set of one or more user-selectable optionsbeing presented via the user interface and/or a profile for the entity.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will becomeapparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It shouldbe understood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating various embodiments, are intended for purposes ofillustration only and are not intended to necessarily limit the scope ofthe disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The ensuing description provides preferred exemplary embodiment(s) only,and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configurationof the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the preferredexemplary embodiment(s) will provide those skilled in the art with anenabling description for implementing a preferred exemplary embodimentof the disclosure. It should be understood that various changes may bemade in the function and arrangement of elements without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appendedclaims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodimentsmaybe practiced without these specific details. For example withoutlimitation, circuits may be shown in block diagrams in order not toobscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances,well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniquesmay be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring theembodiments.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a processwhich is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, astructure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describethe operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when itsoperations are completed, but could have additional steps not includedin the figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, aprocedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination corresponds to a return of the functionto the calling function or the main function.

Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium” may representone or more devices for storing data, including read only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic diskstorage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/orother machine readable mediums for storing information. The term“computer-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to portable orfixed storage devices, optical storage devices, wireless channels andvarious other mediums capable of storing, containing or carryinginstruction(s) and/or data.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessarytasks may be stored in a machine readable medium such as storage medium.A processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks. A code segment mayrepresent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, asubroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination ofinstructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment maybe coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passingand/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed,forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

Over time, a number of idiosyncrasies and complexities have built uprelating to number provisioning, advertiser requirements, service areas,call centers, and the like. Certain embodiments according to the presentdisclosure may provide visibility, simplification, and understandabilityof the complex inter-workings relating to number provisioning. Certainembodiments may provide for a visual and interactive way to choose phonenumbers based on geography. Certain embodiments may graphically indicatewhich telephone numbers are available (e.g., not already assigned to oneor more individuals or entities) and where which of various availabletelephone numbers (and unavailable numbers, in some embodiments)correspond to various areas throughout the city and/or othergeographical region. Using a visual interface, a user may select a setof one or more numbers that the user would like to use. For example, anembodiment could provide a user with an option to choose whether hewants a number closer to San Jose or Santa Clara. In some embodiments,the numbers could be virtual numbers that are representative of each ofthe localities. A user could be presented with a map interface in someembodiments. The map interface may present, for example, a metro areathat indicates which numbers are available and where which of variousnumbers correspond to various areas throughout the city. Variousembodiments may graphically indicate various information about areas,area codes, rate centers, cities, states, zip codes, addresses, etc.

In some embodiments, a user could correspond to an advertiser that wantsto target specific localities with locality representative numbers. Insome embodiments, a user could correspond to a representative of anentity that provides telephone numbers to other entities and/or endusers, and/or facilitates the selection of telephone numbers by otherentities and/or end users. In some embodiments, a user could correspondto a consumer wishing to select a particular number, for example, via awebsite or other interface of a telecommunications company.

Any suitable region of interest may be a point of reference fordetermining available numbers and/or local/toll charge boundaries forthe numbers. In the case of users being advertisers, a region ofinterest could be one in which a given merchant wishes to advertiseand/or conduct business. In some cases, it may be desirable to have alocal number in an area remote from a particular locality. Say, forexample, that an advertiser located in Detroit wishes to targetcustomers in Madison, Wis., and desires a number that is local forcertain areas of Madison; certain embodiments may facilitate suchtargeted telephone number selection. In the case of users beingconsumers, a region of interest could be any region in which a consumerdesires the ability to make local phone calls. A region of interestcould be any region with which a consumer wishes to associate, forexample, so that calls placed by the consumer may be indicated (say, onthe callee's telephone) as originating from a particular area.

In some embodiments, a region of interest may be based at least in parton service area. This may allow number provisioning to be targeted bymetro area that may be divided according to directory distribution area.Thus, for example, a region of interest, and, accordingly, which numbersmay be selected, may be determined in view of whether an advertiser oranother end-user resides with respect to one or more service areafootprints. Each telephone directory typically has a certaindistribution footprint corresponding to one or more certain zip codes,street addresses, etc.

Certain embodiments may provide for an interface that may only be usedin a read-only mode. For example, a mobile phone service vendor mayprovide a consumer interface to be used by customers at a store; theconsumer interface could allow a customer to navigate through differentparts of a particular metro area to identify various available telephonenumbers associated with various geographical areas. In some embodiments,the consumer interface could allow the customer to select a desirednumber. Say, a customer wanted to have a number associated with the westside of Denver; the customer could use the consumer interface toidentify which numbers are available for that particular area, andselect a particular number out of those which are available.

Customer service and complaint issues may be addressed more readilyand/or more effectively with certain embodiments. Say, for example, anadvertiser who has been assigned a telephone number contacts theprovider with an issue, thinking that the telephone number was along-distance number with respect to a certain area; a representative ofthe provider may readily examine the number with this tool and quicklydetermine whether or not the advertiser is correct. Thus, certainembodiments may provide a tool that allows for quick and easyconfirmation of phone number information. A representative of theprovider can quickly confirm and show the advertiser the number that wasgiven, the location of the advertiser, and whether the number is a localnumber for the advertiser's business.

Certain embodiments may provide a research and/or administration tool.For example, the tool can provide visibility into inventories forspecific regions and/or use characteristics for specific regions, thusallowing for planning, remedial actions, and/or growth actions to bewell focused. Research/administration tool features could be madeavailable for use by an entity that provides telephone numbers to otherentities and/or end users, and/or facilitates the selection of telephonenumbers by other entities and/or end users. In some embodiments, inaddition or in alternative, research features could be exposed toadvertisers, for example, via an advertising platform.

Certain embodiments may also allow for capture of additional telephonenumbers from one or more third party carriers, for example, in caseswhere specific numbers are not available and/or where inventory isinsufficient for a specific region. Certain embodiments may provide thecapability to allow for ordering additional phone number inventory fromone or more suppliers. Inventory levels may be determined by ratecenter, local calling area, and/or area code, and orders for additionalinventory may be placed via one or more user-selectable options via auser interface (e.g., via a map interface).

Various embodiments will now be discussed in greater detail withreference to the accompanying figures, beginning with FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 depicts a high-level block diagram of a system 100, in accordancewith certain embodiments of the present disclosure. The system 100allows for interaction between two or more of end-user portalinterface(s) 101, end-user computing device(s) 102, end user(s) 103, atelephony management system 106, data source(s) 108, advertiser(s) 113,advertiser portal interface(s) 111, advertiser communication device(s)112. As depicted, various elements of the system 100 may becommunicatively coupled or couplable to one or more networks 104.

The one or more networks 104 may be any suitable means to facilitatedata transfer in the system 100. In various embodiments, the one or morenetworks 104 may be implemented with, without limitation, one or more ofthe Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), awireless local area network (WLAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), acellular network, such as through 4G, 3G, GSM, CDMA (code divisionmultiple access), etc., another wireless network, a gateway, a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), or any other appropriate architectureor system that facilitates the communication of signals, data, and/ormessages. In various embodiments, the one or more networks 104 maytransmit data using any suitable communication protocol(s). In variousembodiments, the one or more networks 104 and the various componentsthereof may be implemented using hardware, software, and communicationsmedia such wires, optical fibers, microwaves, radio waves, and otherelectromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/or any combination of theforegoing and/or the like. The end-user computing device(s) 102, enduser(s) 103, advertiser(s) 113, telephony management system 106, and/ordata source(s) 108 may be communicatively coupled or couplable to theone or more networks 104 via any suitable communication paths thatsupport the communication protocol(s) used in the various embodiments.

The telephony management system 106 may facilitate searching of one ormore information repositories in response to information received overthe one or more networks 104 from the end-user computing devices 102. Invarious embodiments, the telephony management system 106 may include anydevice or set of devices configured to process, send, receive, retrieve,detect, generate, compute, organize, categorize, qualify, store,display, present, handle, or use any form of information or datasuitable for the embodiments described herein. Certain embodimentsaccording to the present disclosure may implement a call cloud tofacilitate telephone number provisioning and various embodimentsdisclosed herein. The call cloud may be implemented by and/or with thetelephony management system 106.

The telephony management system 106 may include a single computingdevice or multiple computing devices, which may be implemented in orwith a distributed computing and/or cloud computing environment, thatprovide features of various embodiments disclosed. The telephonymanagement system 106 may include one or more processing resourcescommunicatively coupled to one or more storage media, random accessmemory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), and/or other types of memory. Thetelephony management system 106 may include any one or combination ofvarious input and output (I/O) devices, network ports, and displaydevices.

In certain embodiments, the telephony management system 106 may becommunicatively coupled or couplable to one or more data sources 108.The one or more data sources 108 may include any suitable source ofdata. In various embodiments, the one or more data sources 108 mayinclude one or more of a database, a website, any repository of data inany suitable form, and/or a third party. With certain embodiments, theone or more data sources 108 may include one or more providers ofmapping and/or other types of location information that may be used tofacilitate various embodiments disclosed herein. In certain embodiments,the one or more data sources 108 may include one or more metadatasources that provide metadata to facilitate various embodimentsdisclosed herein. The one or more data sources 108 may include one ormore vendors or other suppliers of telephone numbers and/or telephonyinformation, which may include metadata (e.g., telephony metadatapertaining to certain rate centers).

In some cases, one or more rate centers could be assigned to a directoryand/or vice versa. Metadata associated with certain rate centers may beused to define a footprint of a book—i.e., which rate centers, whichphone numbers are within a directory area, and which in are within otherareas. A rate center may refer to a geographical area which is served bya particular switch or set of switches. The rate center may have acentral office code that corresponds to a three number prefix.

In some embodiments, metadata that pertains to a registry of telephonyrate centers around a country/region may be gathered. In someembodiments, metadata may be provided by one or more third-party datasources 108. Such a third-party data source 108 could provide metadataupdates, for example, on a periodic basis and/or when pulled by thetelephony management system 108. The metadata could be provided as anon-premise solution such that information internal to a telephonymanagement system 106 need not be shared with the third-party datasource 108. In some embodiments, metadata may be gathered by thetelephony management system 106. The metadata may be multi-dimensional.When a call is placed, the call may be placed through rate centers, thecall may be logged such that call detail records are formed, whichrecords may indicate when the call was placed, an originating number, aterminating number, a phone service provider providing service to thecaller—such information may be used to determine one or more rates thatmay be charged. Rate centers, and/or information associated therewith,may be used by local exchanges, carriers, and telephone companies ingeneral to determine toll charges of calls between particular locations.In some embodiments, metadata may be used to determine which numberscorrespond to a certain area and/or a rate center. Certain embodimentsmay use metadata to help with phone number selection. Alternatively oradditionally, certain embodiments may use internal phone numberinventory information to help with phone number selection.

As previously discussed, in the past, provisioning of telephone numbersoften has involved a manual process involving the filling out of formsand various inconveniences associated with working with a phone numbervendor 108. Certain embodiments may allow for elimination orminimization of a need to work with a vendor or other supplier 108.Certain embodiments may allow for limited sharing of information with avendor or other supplier 108 in instances where such interaction withthe vendor/supplier 108 is necessary, for example, to obtain additionalinventory and/or to obtain metadata. In certain embodiments, a numbercould be secured from a vendor/supplier 108 via one or more applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) without sharing internal information. Forexample, information sharing may be limited to specifying a type ofnumber desired (such as a toll-free number) and specifying regionalinformation corresponding to a region of interest. In some embodiments,the information shared may include an advertiser's number, such as the10-digit phone number which may be known as a ring-to or ring-to number,without specifying further information such as the advertiser's name.The vendor/supplier 108 may return a 10-digit phone number that is acall-tracking number that meets the specified number type and specifiedregional criteria, or the vendor/supplier 108 may indicate that therequest cannot be satisfied, for example, when no inventory isavailable. However, certain embodiments may allow for internal telephonenumber allocation such that an outside vendor/supplier is not needed.

With some embodiments, the data sources 108 may include one or moremobile computing device locator services that provide informationregarding the location of one or more end-user computing devices 102.With some embodiments, certain of the data sources 108 may providevarious details relating to call data. With some embodiments, certain ofthe data sources 108 may provide caller name information from callingname delivery (CNAM), also known as caller identification or caller ID,may be used to determine particular details about the caller. With someembodiments, certain of the data sources 108 may provide informationabout the area of a caller. With some embodiments, certain of the datasources 108 may provide demographic data about an area.

In various embodiments, the data from the one or more data sources 108may be retrieved and/or received by the telephony management system 106via the network 104 and/or through any other suitable means oftransferring data. For example, in some embodiments, the telephonymanagement system 106 and the data sources 108 could use any suitablemeans for direct communication, as depicted. According to certainembodiments, data may be actively gathered and/or pulled from one ormore data sources 108, for example, by accessing a third partyrepository and/or by “crawling” various repositories. In someembodiments, data may be actively gathered and/or pulled from one ormore data sources 108 on an as-needed basis, such as in real timeresponsive to user requests disclosed herein. Such real-time dataacquisition could be used to supplement data already retained by thetelephony management system 106. The data pulled and/or pushed from theone or more data sources 108 may be made available by the telephonymanagement system 106 for user(s) 103 of the end-user computing devices102. In alternative embodiments, data from the one or more data sources108 may be made available directly to the end-user computing devices102.

According to certain embodiments, the telephony management system 106may be, include, or otherwise facilitate an advertising platform. Insome embodiments, the advertiser(s) 113 may access the telephonymanagement system 106 via advertiser interface(s) 111. In variousembodiments, the advertiser interface(s) 111 may include any suitableinput/output module or other system/device operable to serve as aninterface between the advertiser(s) 113 and the advertising platform. Insome embodiments, an advertiser interface 111 may include one or moreAPIs. In some embodiments, an advertiser interface 111 may include a webinterface. The advertiser interface 111 may cause a web page to bedisplayed on a browser of an advertiser 113. The advertiser interface111 may allow for transfer of and access to telephony and/or advertisinginformation in accordance with certain embodiments disclosed herein.Accordingly, the telephony management system 106 may have website/portals giving access to such information. The advertiserinterface(s) 111 may facilitate communication over the one or morenetworks 104 using any suitable transmission protocol and/or standard.In some embodiments, the telephony management system 106 may includeand/or provide the advertiser interface(s) 111, for example, by makingavailable one or more of a website, a web page, a web portal, a webapplication, a thin-client application, a rich-client application, amobile application, enterprise software, and/or any suitable applicationsoftware.

In certain embodiments, an advertiser interface 111 may include one ormore advertiser computing devices 112. In certain embodiments, the oneor more advertiser computing devices 112 may include a mobile computingdevice that may be any portable device suitable for sending andreceiving information over a network in accordance with embodimentsdescribed herein. For example without limitation, in variousembodiments, the advertiser computing devices 112 may include one ormore devices variously referenced as a mobile phone, a cellulartelephone, a smartphone, a handheld mobile device, a tablet computer, aphablet, a smartwatch, smartglasses, a web pad, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a notebook computer, a handheld computer, a laptopcomputer, and/or the like.

According to certain embodiments, the telephony management system 106may be, include, or otherwise facilitate a remote user platform. Invarious embodiments, the end user(s) 103 may access the telephonymanagement system 106 via end-user interface(s) 101. Similar to theadvertiser interface(s) 111, in various embodiments, the end-userinterface(s) 101 may include any suitable one or combination of modules,system/devices, APIs, web interfaces, and/or the like to provide one ormore types of interfaces for various types of users 103 in accordancewith various embodiments. The end-user interface(s) 101 may facilitatecommunication over the one or more networks 104 using any suitabletransmission protocol and/or standard. In some embodiments, thetelephony management system 106 may include and/or provide the end-userinterface(s) 101, for example, by making available one or more of awebsite, a web page, a web portal, a web application, a mobileapplication, enterprise software, and/or any suitable applicationsoftware.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method 200 of telephone numberprovisioning, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Teachings of the present disclosure may be implemented in avariety of configurations that may correspond to one or more of thesystems disclosed herein. As such, certain steps of the method 200, andthe other methods disclosed herein, may be omitted, and the order of thesteps may be shuffled in any suitable manner and may depend on theimplementation chosen. Moreover, while the following steps of the method200, and those of the other methods disclosed herein, may be separatedfor the sake of description, it should be understood that certain stepsmay be performed simultaneously or substantially simultaneously.

According to some embodiments, the method 200 may begin as indicated byblock 202. As indicated by block 202, a user interface may be provided.In various embodiments, a user interface may correspond to one or moreinterfaces 101 and/or 111. In various embodiments, a user interface mayinclude providing one or more display screens that may each include oneor more user interface elements. A user interface may include any text,image, and/or device that can be displayed on a display screen forproviding information to a user and/or for receiving user input. A userinterface may include one or more widgets, text, text boxes, textfields, tables, grids, charts, maps, hyperlinks, buttons, lists, comboboxes, checkboxes, radio buttons, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the user interface may be configured to providefeatures to a user that corresponds to an agent/representative of anentity that provides telephone numbers to other entities and/or endusers, and/or facilitates the selection of telephone numbers by otherentities and/or end users. In some embodiments, the user interface maybe configured to provide features to a user that corresponds to anadvertiser, for example, via an advertising platform. In someembodiments, the user interface may be provided to an advertiser as partof a provider onboarding and analysis process that creates a providerprofile. For example, the user interface may be provided to anadvertiser as part of the provider onboarding and analysis according toembodiments disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/458,080,filed Aug. 12, 2014 (entitled Systems and Methods for Lead Routing, byJain et al.), which is hereby incorporated by reference for allpurposes.

In some embodiments, the user interface may be configured to providefeatures to a user that corresponds to a consumer, for example, oneinterested in selecting a particular number individually and/or via aninterface of a telecommunications company. In some embodiments, a userinterface may be provided via a website, API, and/or a mobileapplication configured to run on a user's mobile computing device. Forexample, the mobile application could be made available from thetelephony management system or any website for download to the mobilecomputing device; alternatively, it may be pre-installed on the mobilecomputing device and stored in the device's memory and/orcomputer-readable media.

As indicated by block 204, information about a first location may beprocessed. As discussed herein, one or more user-selectable options forselecting a geographical area of interest may be provided, andcorresponding user selection of search criteria may indicate a firstlocation. By way of example without limitation, a user may identify anysuitable location by indicate location information that may be in theform of an address, a partial address, a city, a zip code, latitudeand/or longitude coordinates, a location keyword, any suitablelocation-indicating information, map manipulation, such as panning,zooming, a selection window, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, information about a first location may bedetermined automatically via GPS coordinates, cellular towertriangulation techniques, Wi-Fi-based location information,carrier-provided location information, and/or other locationdetermination systems. For example, a location engine of the system mayidentify a location of the computing device 102, 112. In someembodiments, the location information may be determined from theprovider profile. In some embodiments, a location corresponding to anadvertiser or individual may be determined automatically as part ofgenerating a recommendation for the advertiser or individual.

As indicated by block 206, in some embodiments, a map depicting avicinity about the first location may be displayed. As discussed herein,additionally or alternatively, a non-map format may be presented torepresent information corresponding to a vicinity about the firstlocation and/or any other information that may be conveyed via a mapdisplay in accordance with various embodiments. For example, suchinformation may be conveyed in a list format,

As indicated by block 208, in some embodiments, a region of interestcorresponding to the first location may be determined. The region ofinterest may correspond to a vicinity about the first location. In someembodiments, a region of interest may correspond to predefined areas forvarious locations. For example, if the first location corresponds to St.Louis, a predefined region of interest based on the St. Louis metro areamay be identified. The predefined region of interest could encompass theSt. Louis metro area and could be associated with a first locationindicative of St. Louis generally and/or specifically.

In some embodiments, a region of interest may be based at least in parton a scope of the map that is displayed after the user has manipulatedthe map interface to display a particular area. The region of interestcould be based at least in part on the extent of the area displayed withthe map interface. Additionally or alternatively, the region of interestcould be based at least in part on a portion of the area displayed witha map interface, such as, for example, a portion (e.g., a circular areaor any other shape of area) encompassing a center point of the areadisplayed. In some embodiments, determining a region of interestcorresponding to the first location may include determining coordinates,such as latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates corresponding to thefirst location. In some embodiments, the coordinates determined maydefine or otherwise indicate the region of interest.

As indicated by block 210, in some embodiments, a first set of telephonyinformation may be accessed based at least in part on the region ofinterest. The first set of telephony information may be gathered fromone or more telephony information repositories. In some embodiments, thefirst set of telephony information may include and/or be derived frommetadata discussed herein. In some embodiments, at least some of themetadata may be pulled from a data source as needed, responsive to userinput via the user interface. In some embodiments, such metadata may bepulled from a data source as a check for updates/additional data thatmay be used to update/supplement data in one or more telephonyinformation repositories

As indicated by block 212, in some embodiments, one or more rate centerscorresponding to the region of interest may be determined at leastpartially based on the first set of telephony information. Accordingly,in some embodiments, one or more rate centers may be determined to belocated within the coordinates of the region of interest.

As indicated by block 214, in some embodiments, target informationcorresponding to the region of interest may be processed. In someembodiments, the target information may specify one or more ratescenters. The specified one or more rate centers may be used as a pointof reference for determining inventory associated with the rate centers.The specified one or more rate centers may be used as a point ofreference for determining local and/or toll calling characteristics withrespect to telephone numbers associated with the rate centers.

In some embodiments, target information may be derived from a userselection. For example, a user may select a particular rate center ofinterest. The selection may be facilitated by the presentation of auser-selectable option corresponding to a graphical indication of therate center, as discussed further herein. In some embodiments, theselection may be made by text entry into a field presented forselection.

In some embodiments, target information may be identified automatically.For example, target information could be identified based at least inpart on the first location. As one example, a rate center located nearthe first location could be identified as a target. Say, for example,the user has manipulated the map interface to display a particularregion of interest corresponding to the first location; a rate centerlocated near a center point of the region of interest display could beautomatically identified as a target.

In some embodiments, target information may be identified automaticallyas part of generating a recommendation for an advertiser. For example, arate center located near a business site of the advertiser could beidentified as a target. The business site of the advertiser could bedetermined from the provider profile in some embodiments. As anotherexample, a rate center located in and/or near an area of activitypertinent to the particular business of the provider could be identifiedas a target. The provider may be matched to a particular businesscategory. For example, call information for a particular area may beanalyzed to determine if a threshold number of calls have been made toplumbers, or businesses relating to particular business category (e.g.,plumbing), within a given time period. If so, this could be taken as anindication that the area may be a recommended target market for theparticular business, and one or more rate centers located in and/or nearthe target market could be identified as a target(s). Area information,including demographics for particular areas, may be analyzed todetermine whether an area may be a recommended target market for theparticular business based on the matched business category and leadinformation that indicates that the area information, such asdemographics, matches the business category.

As indicated by block 216, in some embodiments, a second set oftelephony information may be accessed. In some embodiments, the secondset of telephony information may be accessed based at least in part onthe target information and/or the one or more rate centers determined tocorrespond to the region of interest. Like the first set of telephonyinformation, the second set of telephony information may be gatheredfrom one or more telephony information repositories. And, like the firstset of telephony information, in some embodiments, the second set oftelephony information may include and/or be derived from metadatadiscussed herein. In some embodiments, the second set of telephonyinformation may be a subset of the first set of telephony information.

As indicated by block 218, in some embodiments, telephone numberinventory information corresponding to at least one of the one or morerate centers and/or the region of interest may be determined at leastpartially based on the second set of telephony information. Telephonenumber inventory information may correspond to the one or more ratecenters relating to the region of interest. Telephone number inventoryinformation may include or indicate available telephone numbers,telephone numbers in use or otherwise unavailable, inventorycharacteristics, such as a lack of inventory, available capacity, and/orthe like, and/or any other suitable information.

As indicated by block 220, in some embodiments, the telephone numberinventory information may be categorized according to availability ifsuch categorization has not already been performed by the telephonymanagement system. The categorization may be based at least in part oneach rate center, and may include determining telephone numberinventories for each rate center, determining telephone numbersavailable, determining totals available numbers, categorizing availableand/or unavailable numbers (e.g., according to portions of telephonenumbers such as area code and prefix), and/or the like.

As indicated by block 222, in some embodiments, the telephone numberinventory information may be categorized according to local calling/tollcalling characteristics if such categorization has not already beenperformed by the telephony management system. In numerous cases, it maybe desirable to provide available phone numbers that allow for localcalling (non-toll-charge calling) for one or more regions of interest.Say a region of interest is San Antonio, or a specific area in or aroundSan Antonio, it may be desirable to determine which numbers areavailable in the particular San Antonio area, and which are local to aparticular user and/or reference point. The categorization may be basedat least in part on the target information. Say, for example, a targetcorresponds to a particular rate center of interest; a local callingarea, local telephone numbers, and/or one or more rate centersassociated therewith may be determined with respect to the particularrate center.

As indicated by block 224, in some embodiments, at least a subset of thecategorized telephone number inventory information may be ranked. Forexample, with respect to a targeted rate center, available and/orunavailable telephone numbers may be ranked according to quantities,extent of usage, particular characteristics of the localities to whichthe numbers pertain, and/or any other suitable basis. In someembodiments, such bases may include one or more of a characterization ofthe numbers as being more or less easy to remember, such as repetitionof numbers, a natural and/or intuitive sequence of numbers, a relationto popular or well-known number sequences (e.g., historical dates), arelation to alphabetical characters (e.g., a relation such as acognitive word(s), word portion(s), acronyms), and/or the like. In someembodiments, numbers may be ranked based at least in part on call countinformation of past calls. For example, count information of past callsto a particular number may be used by the system to score the particularnumber's popularity. Greater thresholds of count information of pastcalls to a particular number may correspond to increased scores. Thehigher counts could be correlated to ease of remembering particularnumbers.

In some embodiments, the categorized telephone number inventoryinformation may be ranked in view of a particular advertiser in order todetermine a recommendation for the particular advertiser. In someembodiments, telephone numbers may be scored and ranked according torelevance to a provider category associated with the particularadvertiser. For example, an available number with a relation to acognitive word (e.g., (xxx) DEN-TIST) may be scored and ranked as highlyrelevant to a provider category for dentists, but not scored and rankedas highly relevant to certain other categories. In some embodiments, anumber that was previously assigned to an advertiser corresponding to aparticular category could be deemed as more relevant to a subsequentadvertiser in the same category. For example, consumers used to callingparticular numbers for particular categories of products/services maycontinue calling the same numbers for the same needs, and this aspectmay be reflected in the relevancy score.

Number analysis could take into any one or combination of basesdisclosed herein relating to the previous activity associated withparticular numbers, callers having call the particular numbers,businesses previously assigned particular numbers, information about theareas associated with particular numbers, and/or the like. Such factorscould be scored and number options could be ranked to identifyrecommendations. In some embodiments, a composite score may be based onscore(s) in view of generic bases such as well-known number sequencesand on score(s) in view of category-relevant bases such as relation tocategory-relevant cognitive words, numbers, etc. A recommendation for aparticular advertiser may take any suitable form, including identifyingtop-ranked number and/or providing a set of top-ranked numbers in aranked order. Such a recommendation may be presented via the userinterface.

As indicated by block 226, in some embodiments, graphical indicia basedat least in part on the categorized telephone number inventoryinformation may be presented. And, as indicated by block 228, one ormore selections corresponding to the graphical indicia may be processed.In various embodiments, the graphical indicia could include one or moreof text, symbols, images, icons, figures, dimension, color, and/or anyother suitable means of graphical indicia that can be displayed on adisplay screen. As discussed herein, in various embodiments, informationmay be provided to a user by way of, without limitation, one or morewidgets, text, text boxes, text fields, tables, grids, charts, maps,hyperlinks, buttons, lists, combo boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons,and/or the like.

As indicated by block 230, one or more phone numbers may be determinedbased at least in part on the one or more selections. In someembodiments, one or more user selections may indicate one or morespecific telephone numbers. However, in some embodiments, one or moreuser selections may only indicate specific portions of one or moretelephone numbers, such as the specific area code and prefix. In suchcases where the user selection does not indicate a complete telephonenumber, the one or more telephone numbers corresponding to the partialtelephone number selection may be determined on any suitable basis. Insome embodiments, such bases may include one or more of a random basis,a characterization of the numbers as being more or less easy toremember, such as repetition of numbers, a natural and/or intuitivesequence of numbers, a relation to popular or well-known numbersequences (e.g., historical dates), a relation to alphabeticalcharacters (e.g., a relation such as a cognitive word(s), wordportion(s), or acronyms), and/or the like.

As indicated by block 232, the one or more phone numbers may be assignedto an entity. Assignment information may be processed and retained inone or more data repositories. Such information may include any suitabletelephony information to facilitate assignment, which may includewithout limitation information relating to virtual telephone numbers,target telephone numbers, account information, purchasing information,and/or the like. Inventory and tracking information records may beupdated to reflect the assignments.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are screenshots illustrating example interface 300, inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. Theinterface 300 may provide for a visual and interactive way in which toresearch, discover, and choose phone numbers based at least partially ongeography. The interface 300 may present a map interface component 302.The map interface component 302 may depict any desired geographical area304, for example, a metro area or portion thereof. The geographical area304 may correspond to one or more directories.

The interface 300 may provide one or more user-selectable options 306for selecting a geographical area of interest, e.g., via input of acity, state, zip code, and/or the like. In the example depicted, aportion of the Detroit metro area is depicted. The target area could bewith reference to a particular rate center and/or directory, in variousembodiments. A particular target could be a rate center with which anadvertiser's, consumer's, and/or other's ring-to number may beassociated. The current target area may be graphically indicated in anysuitable manner.

In the example depicted, the current target area may correspond to aparticular directory for the Detroit area, and SEAMI may be a code for adirectory in Detroit area, with a Northville rate center being aparticular target rate center 308 within the footprint of the directory,the location of which is graphically indicated on the map interfacecomponent 302. The rate centers corresponding to the directory areshown. Accordingly, the example depicted allows for access to, andpresentation of, customer telephone number inventory for the SEAMIdirectory. In some embodiments, only telephone numbers for theparticular directory are shown, such that numbers out of that directoryscope are not shown. In some embodiments, telephone numbers for multipledirectories could be shown; and, in some embodiments, telephone numbersmay be graphically distinguished from one another based on theparticular directories with which the numbers are associated.

The interface 300 may allow for the indication of local calling areas.With reference to a selected target area, a local calling area may bedetermined. In some embodiments, a local calling area may be indicatedwith reference to one or more rate centers that allow for local callingin a target area. A local calling area may be identified with respect toone or more directories. For example, with reference to the currenttarget area, one or more rate centers within a local calling area may bedetermined and indicated via the interface 300. Correspondinglocation(s) with one or more rate centers in the local calling area maybe graphically indicated with a pin, color coding, alphanumeric indicia,and/or in any suitable manner. In the example depicted in FIG. 4, 14rate centers 310 are identified as being in the local calling area withrespect to the current target area.

In some embodiments, a local calling area may be additionally oralternatively graphically indicated with a perimeter, hash-marked area,shaded area, and/or in any suitable manner. The extents of suchindications of perimeters and/or areas could be based on actual boundaryinformation or could be estimated based on the one or more local callcenters. For example, estimations could be based on a certain radiusabout a local call center and/or a certain distance between a local callcenter(s) and a toll call center(s) (e.g., a boundary could be estimatedbased on half the distance between an outermost local center of a localcalling area and a toll call center near the local calling area).

In some embodiments not shown, a map interface could graphicallyindicate telephone numbers directly. Such indications could be placed onthe map in relation to associate call areas. In some embodiments,presentation of telephone numbers could be staged so that, initially,only area codes and/or prefixes are displayed. Once the user chooses oneor more prefixes, complete numbers having the prefixes could bepresented for selection. In some embodiments, the process of revealingnumbers could be iterative with, for example, single digits beingdisplayed initially and additional digits being iteratively displayedresponsive to corresponding iterative user selections of previousdigits.

The extent of telephone number information displayed may vary inaccordance with the map scope. For example, a relatively higher-levelview could present less information, while a relatively lower-level viewcould present more information. In some embodiments, higher-level viewswould indicate rate centers as depicted but not telephone numbersdirectly, and lower-level views could depict at least portions oftelephone numbers. The extent of information displayed could beproportionate to the amount of space so as to minimize visual clutter.In some cases, only top-ranked telephone numbers may be indicatedpartially or completely, and further telephone number information couldbe accessible upon user selection of one or more user-selectableoptions. For example, telephone numbers could be ranked on the basis ofhow many are available for a given prefix, call counts were givenprefix, and/or on any other suitable basis.

In some embodiments, the interface 300 may allow for the indication oftoll calling areas. Toll calling areas could be indicated with referenceto the selected target area in similar manner as the local calling areaas indicated. One or more rate centers 312 that would involve toll callswith respect to the target area may be determined. Such rate centers 312could be indicated via the interface 300. Similar to the local call ratecenters, toll call rate centers 312 may be graphically indicated with apin, color coding, alphanumeric indicia, and/or in any suitable manner.In some embodiments, toll call rate centers 312 could be graphicallydistinguished from local call rate centers with color coding,alphanumeric indicia, and/or in any suitable manner. In the exampledepicted in FIG. 4, 22 rate centers 312 are identified as being outsidethe local calling area with respect to the current target area.

In some embodiments, the interface 300 may allow for the indication ofavailability of customer telephone numbers. The availability may beindicated in any suitable manner. In some embodiments, rate centers 314for which there is no available inventory could be determined andindicated. Similar to the local call rate centers, rate centers 314having no available inventory may be graphically indicated with a pin,color coding, alphanumeric indicia, and/or in any suitable manner. Insome embodiments, such no-inventory rate centers 314 could begraphically distinguished from local call rate centers and/or toll callrate centers with color coding, alphanumeric indicia, and/or in anysuitable manner. As one possible example out of many, local call centers308 could be indicated with green pins and a letter L, toll call centers310 could be indicated with yellow pins and a T, and no-inventory callcenters 314 could be indicated with red pins and a negative sign. In theexample depicted in FIG. 4, 19 rate centers 314 are identified as havingno available inventory; thus, the local call centers 308 and toll callcenters 310 that are displayed are implicitly indicated as havingavailable inventory. If a different target area/call center is selected,the graphical indicia may change accordingly to reflect different callcenters as being local call centers and toll call centers for theparticular area.

In some embodiments, the interface 300 may include one or moreuser-selectable options to control what is shown via the map interfacecomponent 302. The depicted example includes a legend withuser-selectable options 316 for controlling whether local call indicia,toll call indicia, and/or no inventory indicia are to be shown. Thus,for example, a user that is only interested in seeing available localcall options may deselect toll-call indications and no-inventoryindications so that neither is shown on the map interface component 302.

In some embodiments, the graphical indications 308, 310, 312, 314, 316for rate centers could be user-selectable options. A particular ratecenter 308, 310, 312, 314, or 316 could be selected in order to adjustthe current target area. In some embodiments, in addition or in thealternative, other means such as a text entry field, a menu, and/or thelike could be employed to select a particular rate center 308, 310, 312,314, or 316. In the example of FIG. 3, a rate center 308 correspondingto Northville is shown as selected; in the example of FIG. 4, a ratecenter 316 corresponding to Livonia is shown as selected.

In some embodiments, multiple rate centers within a given region ofinterest may be selected as targets. Local calling areas with respect toeach particular target could be identified. The local calling areascould be graphically distinguished in any suitable manner, which mayinclude color coding, perimeter outlining, shading, overlays, and/or thelike.

Some embodiments may provide for the option of identifying a desiredlocal calling area without identifying a particular target rate center.For example, a user could select a portion of the map interface toidentify a point of interest, which could correspond to a central pointof an area of interest. Then, the system could identify a set oftop-ranked local numbers for the area of interest. One or more localcalling areas with respect to the central point could be identified. Inthe case of the central point corresponding to multiple local callingareas having different scopes, local calling areas could be graphicallydistinguished in any suitable manner. As another example, a user couldperimeter around a portion of the map interface to identify an area ofinterest. One or more local calling areas overlapping the specifiedportion could be identified. Other embodiments are possible.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot illustrating example interface 300-1, inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. In theexample interface 300-1, a rate center corresponding to Ann Arbor isshown as selected. In some embodiments, one or more user-selectableoptions may be provided to access customer telephone number options fora given rate center. Any number and type of customer telephone numbersassociated with a given rate center could be presented any suitablemanner. In some embodiments, only available telephone number informationfor a given rate center may be presented. Some embodiments may alsoindicate any suitable information about telephone numbers in use.

In the example depicted, a rate center corresponding to Ann Arbor hasbeen selected, and telephone number information 502 for the rate centeris presented. The telephone number information 502 may include telephonenumber options, which may be indicated by area code and prefix, as inthe example depicted, or in any other suitable manner. In someembodiments, options for selecting complete telephone numbers may beprovided. For example, an option to drill down into the details ofspecific numbers are available for a particular area code and prefix maybe provided via an expandable tree and/or any other suitable means ofdisplaying detailed information on available numbers. As shown,indications of number availability and/or numbers in use may bepresented.

In some embodiments, one or more user-selectable options 504 forselecting available numbers may be presented. As in the exampledepicted, a user may have the option 504 of selecting a particularquantity of available numbers, e.g., for addition 504-1 to a shoppingcart. Alternatively or additionally, a user may have the option ofselecting complete numbers one at a time.

Options for selecting multiple rate centers could be provided. FIG. 6 isa screenshot illustrating example interface 300-2, in accordance withcertain embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, anoption to select another rate center could be provided. The exampledepicts telephony availability information 602 for a rate centercorresponding to Whitmore Lake having been selected from the localcalling area where the Ann Arbor rate center is set as the target.Number selection for the additional rate center could proceed withoptions as previously disclosed. Additionally, an option 604 for settingthe additional rate center as the new target may be provided. Selectionof that option 604 may or may not result in a change of the localcalling area and which rate centers are local call rate centers.

FIG. 7 is a screenshot illustrating example interface 300-3, inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. As shownin FIG. 7, an interface 300-3 may be provided for the user to view thecart 702, including which numbers 704 have been selected forprovisioning. In some embodiments, only the area code and prefixcategories for the selected numbers 704 may be shown in the cart 702; insome embodiments, the complete numbers selected 704 may be shown in thecart 702.

A user could have the option 706 to modify the cart 702, such as byremoving particular numbers 704 or number categories (not shown) fromthe cart 702, before checking out. Consequent to confirming the contentsof the cart 702, a user may check out and be provisioned the finallyselected numbers for use in some embodiments, a user may be an internaluser, e.g., a user that is internal to a company such that no purchaseis required; in other embodiments, a purchase workflow may be providedfor those users that need to purchase the numbers for use. Somealternative embodiments may provide options to see and select aparticular number for direct provisioning, with a single click, forexample, such that no shopping cart is necessary.

Consequent to final selection, assignment information may be processedand retained in one or more data repositories. Such information mayinclude any suitable telephony information to facilitate assignment,which may include without limitation information relating to virtualtelephone numbers, target telephone numbers, account information,purchasing information, and/or the like. Inventory and trackinginformation records may be updated to reflect the assignments.

Referring again to FIG. 3, user-selectable options 320 for viewinginformation in a map view and/or a list view could be provided. FIG. 8shows a screenshot of one example list view 300-4, in accordance withcertain embodiments of the present disclosure. The list view 300-4 mayshow the same or similar information as the map view and may allow fornumber selection like the map view.

FIG. 9 is a screenshot illustrating example interface 900, in accordancewith certain embodiments of the present disclosure. The interface 900may provide for a visual and interactive callscape. In some embodiments,the interface 900 could be tied to the interface 300 and order toprovide a segue to more detailed call information. The interface 900 mayprovide user-selectable options for accessing information regarding oneor more of a call tracking 902, users 904, inventory 906, management908, and/or statistics 910.

Call tracking numbers 912 could be mapped to ring-to numbers 914 forparticular customers. A call tracking number ID 916 could likewise beassociated with one or more particular call tracking numbers 912 and oneor more particular ring-to numbers 914. Status information 918 could bemapped to the particular numbers in order to indicate a current statussuch as active, inactive, obsolete, reassigned, and/or the like. Suchcall tracking information may be mapped to various customer accounts920, organizations 922, users, and/or the like. In some embodiments,numbers may be provided by the telephony management system, e.g., thecallcloud. In some embodiments, alternatively or additionally, numbersmay be provided by another supplier, such as a third-party vendor.Accordingly, provider information 924 may be tracked and presented viathe callscape interface 900. Provisioning information 926 andmodification information 928 may likewise be mapped to various numbers.

Certain embodiments may provide for organizing and providing access tocall tracking information according to particular regions of interest.In various embodiments, a callscape view may be invoked for particulartelephone numbers, particular call centers, local call centers, tollcall centers, no-inventory call centers, particular local calling areas,particular toll call areas, particular metro areas, and/or the like, anyone or combination of which may be presented via the interface 300 alongwith user-selectable options to segue to a desired callscape.

In some embodiments, the interface 900 may be provided to arepresentative, such as a sales/customer service representativeassociated with the number provider. In some embodiments, options forexposing callscape information to end users, such as advertisers, may beprovided. For example, a representative working with a particularadvertiser may wish to display information presented with the interface900 and/or the interface 300. In various embodiments, such options mayinclude on-demand videoconferencing, web conferencing, image piping,and/or the like. For example, callscape information may be provided tothe advertiser platform. Such exposure of information may be controlledby the representative and could involve read-only access being providedto the advertiser. The interface 900 could allow for drilling down intodetails regarding call information in any suitable manner and to anysuitable extent.

FIG. 10 is a screenshot illustrating example interface 900-1, inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. Asdepicted in FIG. 10, additional details 1002 regarding particular calltracking numbers may be accessible. A particular call tracking number1004 may be mapped to a particular ring-to number 1006, and information1002 for the call tracking number 1004 may be consolidated, sorted, andpresented for particular date range 1008. For example, CNAM information1010 may be provided, which may include caller name information, addressinformation, location information, device information, ID information,telephone number information, and/or the like. Additionally, information1012 regarding particular calls may be provided, which may includeanswer status (i.e., whether or not the call was answered), call starttime, call answer time, call duration, call recording, and/or the like.Additional information regarding various embodiments of call tracking,location identification, communication references, and other datacapture features, are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/965,123, filed Aug. 12, 2013 (entitled Sales Lead Qualification of aConsumer Based on Sales Lead Rules, by Jain et al.), which is herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes.

While such information is depicted as being provided on a call trackingnumber basis, in certain embodiments, similar information could beprovided on a particular user basis. For example, certain users such asadvertisers may be associated with multiple call tracking numbers.

Various user-selectable options may be provided to access any suitabledetails regarding particular call tracking numbers. For example,features may be provided so that additional details are revealed when aselection tool is used to hover over and/or click on a customertelephone number and/or related information. In certain embodiments,such features for accessing additional details may be provided in a mapview.

Certain embodiments provide one or more options to select one or moretelephone numbers in use in order to access information about the one ormore telephone numbers. One or more search options also could beprovided to search for details on specific numbers, which may includenumbers that may be already assigned, that may or may not be available(e.g., vanity number searches), and/or the like. FIGS. 11 and 12 arescreenshots depicting an example callscape interface 1100 for accessingdetails on specific numbers, in accordance with certain embodiments ofthe present disclosure. With the callscape interface 1100, informationsimilar to that described above may be provided with respect toparticular numbers. Additionally, call count information 1102 over acertain period may be provided. In some embodiments, a call trackingnumber history 1104 may be provided. The call tracking number history1104 may capture information regarding the assignment of particular calltracking number to various ring-to numbers in the present and in thepast. Information similar to that described above may be provided withrespect to each call tracking number assignment. In some embodiments,call count information and/or other statistics may be provided for eachassignment, allowing for comparison of such information. Locationinformation 1106 for particular customers may also be depictedgraphically in some embodiments.

A time period selection feature may be configured to allow for selectionof a time period for which to view certain call metrics. Past callmetrics, current call metrics, and projected call metrics options may beprovided. Past call metrics could show metrics for past week, month,billing period, three months, six months, year, etc. Current callmetrics could show real-time metrics in the context of recent activitysuch as the last hour, day, week, etc. Projected call metrics could showextrapolation of past and/or current data into future, such as anycoming time period. Projected call metrics could be based on anysuitable factor, including aggregate performance of other advertisers inthe market, market data for a particular location, and/or the like.

A graphic selection feature may be configured to present access todetails of metrics and/or any suitable data according variousembodiments herein in any suitable format with any suitable graphics. Byway of example without limitation, pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs,tables, with features allowing ordering and/or filtering of dataaccording to any suitable criteria, matrices, Venn diagrams, images,photos, and/or the like may be implemented according to variousembodiments. In some embodiments, the graphic selection feature mayallow for user customization and/or manipulations of graphics presentedwith a dashboard.

In some embodiments, a user-selectable create option may be provided.Such an option may allow a user to assign particular CTN to a ring-tonumber and create a new record for provisioning the number to a newuser. In some embodiments, a user-selectable call path option may bepresented to provide access to call path information. In variousembodiments, one or more additional user-selectable options may beprovided.

Any suitable information about the one or more telephone numbers may beprovided in various embodiments. For example, a user-selectable optionmay be provided in order to see call counts/volume that a particulartelephone number and/or set of telephone numbers has received over acertain time period. Such a tool providing access to number usage datacould facilitate a sales situation, for example. Information aboutvarious numbers in use were given region could be used to identifytraffic, activity, and demand for the region. Say, for example, a salesrepresentative or an advertiser can identify that a set of telephonenumbers in use for a given region are each getting a minimum of 50 callsper month; that information could be considered in making advertisingdecisions (e.g., which regions to target). Various embodiments couldprovide such telephone information by telephone number and/or by aportion thereof (e.g., by NPA NXX) by rate center, and/or by region.With interface 900 and/or 1100, call information, caller data,characteristics corresponding to calls, characterization of callers(such as qualifications, attributes, etc. determined by the managementsystem, caller-specific information (such as demographic informationabout the contact's age, income, marital status, parental status,social/business networks, home ownership, etc.), consumer-specific data(such as particular purchases or buying habits of the caller), areainformation pertinent to the location of callers and/or businesses(e.g., information about average age of residents in the area, averageincome, percentage with children, percentage married, education levels,home ownership, etc.), and/or the like may be provided.

Certain embodiments provide one or more options for ordering moreinventory. For example, a no-inventory call center may be augmented withadditional inventory that is generated by the information handlingsystem and/or acquired one or more data sources, which may correspond tothird-party vendors, for example. Such a mode could also be used toaugment other call centers, not just no-inventory call centers. This mayfacilitate inventory management, where desirable, such as in the case ofa remote sales office desired order more telephone numbers directly. Insome embodiments, the procurement of additional inventory may be on acall-center basis and/or on a metro-area basis. Orders for additionalinventory may be placed via one or more user-selectable options via auser interface, such as any user interface of various embodimentsdisclosed herein (e.g., via a map interface such as interface 300). Withadditional inventory being procured, the additional inventory may bereflected by the visual interface.

One or more call statistics features may be configured to present accessto details regarding any suitable call data. Options for presentingaccess to details about calls using a particular number may bepresented. Such options may include calls per particular location, callsper particular caller of interest, successful calls that weresuccessfully connected, missed calls, dropped calls/calls receiving abusy tone, voicemails left by callers, call-back statistics, calllengths, whether calls were recorded, and/or the like. For instance, acall of interest feature could identify a number of calls from aparticular caller in a particular time period as an indication ofinterest. A caller who has made five calls to a particular advertiser orto advertisers in a particular service category in the last ten minutesmay be taken as an indication of high interest.

In some embodiments, a peer group feature may be configured to presentaccess to details regarding peer group of advertisers. A peer group ofadvertisers could be identified and/or defined by advertising categoryand/or geography. A peer group statistics feature may be configured topresent access to details any suitable call data regarding a peer group.The data could be anonymized in some embodiment to only show aggregatedinformation; in other embodiments the data may not be anonymized, butmay tie particular data to particular advertisers in the peer group. Forexample, the data could be specifically tie to particular advertisers ofa sales force within a company. Any type of call data may be compared.

It is to be understood that the depicted interfaces disclosed herein arefor example purposes only. Accordingly, any suitable GUI/dashboard maythat may include or present data for users according to variousembodiments may be presented in any suitable format with any suitablelayout of any suitable sets/subsets of features, along with any desiredgraphical depiction of information, to facilitate features of variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In various embodiments, one ormore user-selectable options may include one or more of a screen-labeledfunction key, an icon, a button, a soft button, a window, a menu, acontrol widget, a scroll bar, a slider, a listbox, and/or the like. Invarious embodiments, one or more user-selectable options may beselectable via one or more of touch, push, movement-based selection,and/or any suitable navigation feature.

FIG. 13 shows a high-level block diagram of a telephony managementsystem 106-1, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The system 106-1 may correspond to the system 106 of FIG. 1,but one embodiment of the system 106 is shown in more detail. Whileengines, repositories, and other components are described separatelyherein, it should be appreciated that the components may be combinedand/or implemented differently in any combination to provide certainfeatures in various embodiments. In various embodiments, differentprocesses running on one or more shared computers may implement some ofthe components.

The telephony management system 106-1 may be, correspond to, and/orinclude one or more servers and/or switches that, in variousembodiments, may include one or more switches and/or media gateways,such as telephone, messaging, email, application, and/or other types ofgateways. One or more network interfaces 118 may be communicativelycoupled to processors 116. In various embodiments, one or more of theprocessor(s) 116, memory 117, and/or network interface(s) 118 maycorrespond to the one or more servers. The network interface(s) 118 mayinclude any suitable input/output module or other system/device operableto serve as an interface between one or more components of the telephonymanagement system 106 and the one or more networks 104. The telephonymanagement system 106-1 may use the network interfaces 118 tocommunicate over the networks 104 using any suitable transmissionprotocol and/or standard.

In some embodiments, a server may communicate with a mobile computingdevice 102 via HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and/or other types ofcommunication protocols, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP), etc. In some embodiments, a server mayprovide static web pages, dynamic web pages, and/or web services. Insome embodiments, a server may provide web applications to a mobilecomputing device 102 for execution in a web browser running on themobile computing device 102; and the web applications may includescripts for execution within an isolated browser environment. In someembodiments, a server may provide rich-client applications to a mobilecomputing device 102; and the rich-client application may be programmedto have access to functions of the operating system running on a mobilecomputing device 102.

In some embodiments, the telephony management system 106-1 receives,places, and/or routes telephone calls over packet switched networks. Insome embodiments, the telephony management system 106-1 may providepacket-switched connections between callers and advertiserrepresentatives, which correspond to the destinations of click-to-callrequests. In some embodiments, the telephony management system 106-1 canplace and/or receive direct VoIP calls to/from the callers/advertiserrepresentatives. In some embodiments, the telephony management system106-1 may use a data network completely (along with one or more accesspoints via 3G/4G/Wi-Fi, e.g.), as opposed to through a PSTN.

The telephony management system 106-1 may include one or more datarepositories 140. In various embodiments, the data repository(ies) 140may be implemented in various ways. The data repositories 140 mayinclude database(s), database management system(s), server(s) tofacilitate management/provision/transfer of information, and/or thelike. For example without limitation, one or more data processingsystems may store information. One or more relational or object-orienteddatabases, or flat files on one or more computers or networked storagedevices, may store information. In some embodiments, a centralizedsystem stores information; alternatively, a distributed/cloud system,network-based system, such as being implemented with a peer-to-peernetwork, or Internet, may store information. Various information relatedto given subscriber/user may be linked in any suitable manner.

In some embodiments, the telephony management system 106-1 may includeone or more data repositories 140 may include one or more telephonyinformation repositories 140(a) that may retain any suitable telephonyinformation to facilitate embodiments disclosed herein, which telephonyinformation may include without limitation information relating tovirtual telephone numbers, target telephone numbers, which may include“ring-to” telephone numbers, virtual-target telephone number mappinginformation, metadata, rate center information, local call information,toll call information, availability information, telephone numberinventory information, any phone number information pertinent todomestic mobile network phone numbers and/or foreign mobile networkphone numbers, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the targettelephone numbers phones may belong to advertisers, which may correspondto one or more of institutions, businesses, individuals, etc. that couldbe seeking publicity through various media channels, such as webservers, WAP servers, short messaging services, etc., and which may ormay not use the network(s) 104.

In various embodiments, assigned telephone numbers (virtual telephonenumbers, a target/ring-to telephone numbers, and/or the like) may bedelivered with content information (e.g., advertising content, web page,WAP page, short message, television programs, news articles, etc.) tovarious end-users, publishers, media channels, and/or the like. Inembodiments where an end-user device is a mobile device, contentinformation, including advertisements, may be transferred to the devicethrough wireless communication connections, such as cellularcommunication links, wireless access points for wireless local areanetwork, etc. In some embodiments, an end-user device can receivecontent information from multiple types of media channels (e.g., a webserver, a WAP server, a SMSC, etc.). In some embodiments, an end-usercomputing device 102-1 may be able to initiate a phone call (e.g.,automatically dialing according to the encoded phone number embedded inthe content information to facilitate a click-to-call feature).

In some embodiments, the one or more data repositories 140 may includeone or more listing information repositories 140(b) that may retain anysuitable telephony information to facilitate embodiments disclosedherein, which listing information may include without limitationinformation relating to business entities, any local listingsinformation suitable for embodiments of this disclosure, such asbusiness, product, and service information, and/or the like. In certainembodiments, the local listings information may correspond to directoryinformation of the kind available via Yellow Pages services and thelike. The listings 140(a) may include addresses, telephone numbers,advertisements, announcements, and/or end-user information, etc.

In some embodiments, the one or more data repositories 140 may includeone or more tracking information repositories 140(c). The one or moretracking information repositories 140(c) may retain any informationsuitable to facilitate tracking, linking, and/or routing of calls andmessages according to various embodiments. The one or more trackinginformation repositories 140(c) may retain any call data, call datarecords, authentication information, including, for example withoutlimitation, the authentication information may unique useridentification information, unique device identification information,IMSI information, password information, and/or the like. Other types ofretained information could include information relating to devices thatsubscriber uses and has used to interface with the system. For examplewithout limitation, information about the specific devices, deviceconfigurations, and/or device capabilities that a gives subscriber usescould be tracked and retained in a repository.

In some embodiments, the one or more data repositories 140 may includeone or more location/mapping information repositories 140(d). The one ormore location/mapping information repositories 140(d) may retain anyinformation suitable to facilitate mapping and location-based featuresof various embodiments disclosed herein. For example, mappinginformation/images, street addresses or other location parameters, suchas longitude and latitude coordinates, stored as locations. Thetelephony information 140(a) and/or listings 140(b) may be associatedwith locations 140(d). The locations 140(d) may be part of the telephonyinformation 140(a) and/or listings 140(b), or associated therewith.

The telephony management system 106-1 may include one or more of engines146 and/or modules that may be stored in the one or more memories andmay include one or more software applications, executable with theprocessors, for receiving and processing requests, process information,presenting information, call routing and handling, and/or the like. Theone or more of engines 146 and/or other modules may be configured toperform any of the steps of methods described in the present disclosure.

The one or more of engines 146 may include one or more of locationengine(s) 146(a), a search engine(s) 146(b), an area selector(s) 146(c),and/or a sort engine(s) 146(d) to process information according tovarious embodiments, which processing may be based at least in part onthe information stored in one or more data repositories 140. The one ormore of engines 146 may include interface handling engine(s) 146(e) thatmay include logic to send, present, and receive information, with one ormore of the interfaces to/from one or more users and/or networkcomponents. The interface handling engine(s) 146(e), with one or morethe processors 116, may utilize one or more network interfaces 118 totransceive information through the networks 104. The system 106 may pulland/or push information from those entities in any suitable way. Forexample without limitation, the system 106 may pull and/or pushinformation from a computing device 102, 112 to facilitate features ofembodiments discussed herein. The one or more of engines 146 may includeinventory management engine(s) 146(f) that may include logic forimplementing inventory features in various embodiments. The inventorymanagement engine(s) 146(f) may be configured for acquiring, processing,formatting, checking, maintaining, modifying, and/or storing telephonenumber inventory information in the one or more repositories 140.

The one or more of engines 146 may include logging engine(s) 146(g) thatmay include logic for implementing information logging features invarious embodiments. By way of example without limitation, the loggingengine(s) 146(g) could process data pulled and/or pushed from variousentities. The logging engines 146(g) may be configured to performlogging processes to receive and log data of interest for calls. In someembodiments, logging engines 146(g) may include logic to retrieve,process, derive, compile, aggregate, handle, store, report, and/orpresent information relating to call data associated with varioustelephone numbers. In some embodiments, the logging engines 146(g) mayinclude tracking logic to track calls and/or call data, in accordancewith certain embodiments. By way of example without limitation, thelogging engines 146(g) may be configured to identify whether a caller issuccessfully connected with an advertiser, whether the call is missed,whether the call is dropped/disconnected/receives a busy tone, whetherthe call is routed to voicemail, whether a voicemail is left, and/or thelike. In some embodiments, the logging engines 146(g) may include ANIlogic to identify numbers of callers. In some embodiments, the loggingengines 146(g) may be configured to track the length of calls. In someembodiments, the logging engines 146(g) may be configured to recordcalls. Data of interest could include other types of data such as moredetails around call/click data, caller name information from callingname delivery (CNAM), also known as caller identification or caller ID;location information, such as information about the area of a caller,demographic data about the area, history for a particular area; historyfor particular callers, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the one or more of engines 146 may includeanalytics engine(s) 146(h) that may include logic for implementinginformation analytics features in various embodiments, such as callanalytics. For example, current call data may be compared to past calldata. In some embodiments, a particular advertiser or other user maycompare that particular advertiser's call data to call data of othernumbers, which could correspond to a peer group of advertisers. A peergroup of advertisers could be identified and/or defined by advertisingcategory and/or geography. Any type of call data may be compared. Anadvertiser may have user-selectable options to select different types ofstatistics for comparison and order by different types of statistics.Statistics could be based on time, that is, what has happened in thelast hour, day, week, etc. Statistics could be filtered based ondistance. For example, statistics could indicate that one or more callsand/or click originated from a distance of X miles with respect to areference point.

The one or more of engines 146 may include call handling engine(s)146(i) that may include logic to implement and/or otherwise facilitateany call handling features discussed herein. By way of example withoutlimitation, the call handling engine(s) 146(i) may be configured to oneor more of decode, route, and/or redirect calls to/from users. Dialingan assigned phone number may connect the phone call to a call handlingengine 146(i). The call handling engine 146(i) may include one or morecall routing modules. The call routing module may include one or both ofa router and a decoder. In some embodiments, based at least partially onthe communication reference selected, such as a phone number dialedand/or a call button selected, the call routing module may determine oneor more corresponding target communication references using thetelephony information repository 140(a) and may connect the phone callto one or more users through the network 104.

In some embodiments, the network 104 may include a telephone network.The telephone network 104 may be circuit switched, package switched, orpartially circuit switched and partially package switched. For example,the telephone network may partially use the Internet to carry the phonecall (e.g., through VoIP). For example, a connection between a usercomputing device 102, 112 and the call routing module may be carriedusing VoIP; and the connection between a router and a decoder of thecall routing engine may be carried using a land-line based,circuit-switched telephone network.

In some embodiments, to make a voice connection responsive to aclick-to-call selection by the user of a computing device, one or moreIP messages may be sent via one or more access points to one or moreservers/switches of the telephony management system 106-1. The one ormore IP messages may indicate the communication reference information,the identification information, and/or another identifier (which couldbe an authentication token/key, in some embodiments) from which phonenumber information of the computing device may be identified and/ordetermined. The one or more IP messages could indicate the phone numberinformation for an advertiser representative corresponding to theadvertisement selected. Alternatively, an identifier of the advertiserrepresentative and/or advertisement could be indicated, and thetelephony management system 106-1 could determine the phone numberinformation for the corresponding advertiser representative, e.g., basedon information stored for the advertiser.

In some embodiments, one or more SIP requests may be sent via one ormore access points to one or more servers/switches of the telephonymanagement system 106-1. In some embodiments, the telephony managementsystem 106-1 can place separate VoIP calls over the IP network(s) to anadvertiser representative and a caller, and then bridge the calls.Accordingly, each of the advertiser representative and the callerreceives an inbound call placed via the packet switched network 104, andthe telephony management system 106-1 joins the separate calls. In someembodiments, the two calls are merged responsive to the each of thecaller and the advertiser representative accepting the call.

In some embodiments, to make a voice connection responsive to aclick-to-call selection by the user of a computing device, the telephonymanagement system 106-1 can route a VoIP call established with thecaller over the IP network(s) 104 to the advertiser representative.Accordingly, only the advertiser representative receives an inboundcall. For example without limitation, a SIP request from a computingdevice could be reconfigured and redirected based at least in part onthe phone number of the advertiser representative. A SIP request couldbe configured so that response messaging is routed to the computingdevice and/or the telephony management system 106-1. In someembodiments, the call from the caller is connected to the advertiserrepresentative responsive to the advertiser representative accepting thecall.

In various embodiments, the telephony management system 106-1 mayinterface with callers and/or callees using one or more suitable typesof internet telephony systems, such as, for example, SIP-based internettelephony, H.323-based internet telephony, and/or the like. Accordingly,various embodiments of the telephony management system 106-1 may supportmultiple, different types of internet telephony systems. In someembodiments, the telephony management system 106-1 may include one ormore servers and one or more controllers, which may be SIP servers andsession border controllers, in order to interface with the IP network(s)104, control messaging, and facilitate set-up, voice conversation, andtear-down of VoIP calls to or from the telephony management system106-1. The one or more controllers could handle processing and routingof incoming requests from the computing device.

In some embodiments, one computer system implements one or more of thecomponents of the system 106-1. Alternatively, different processesrunning on one or more shared computers may implement some of thecomponents. For example without limitation, one computing module,thread, or process may implement multiple of the components. In someembodiments, special purpose data processing systems implement the oneor more of the components. In some embodiments, processes runningaccording to software instructions on general purpose data processingsystems, such as general purpose personal computers or server computers,can implement the components. Thus, the implementations are not limitedto particular hardware, software, or particular combinations of hardwareand software.

Referring next to FIG. 14, an exemplary environment with whichembodiments may be implemented is shown with a computer system 1400 thatcan be used by a designer 1404 to design, for example withoutlimitation, electronic designs. The computer system 1400 can include acomputer 1402, keyboard 1422, a network router 1412, a printer 1408, anda monitor 1406. The monitor 1406, processor 1402 and keyboard 1422 arepart of a computer system 1426, which can be a laptop computer, desktopcomputer, handheld computer, mainframe computer, etc. The monitor 1406can be a CRT, flat screen, etc.

A designer 1404 can input commands into the computer 1402 using variousinput devices, such as a mouse, keyboard 1422, track ball, touch screen,etc. If the computer system 1400 comprises a mainframe, a designer 1404can access the computer 1402 using, for example without limitation, aterminal or terminal interface. Additionally, the computer system 1426may be connected to a printer 1408 and a server 1410 using a networkrouter 1412, which may connect to the Internet 1418 or a WAN.

The server 1410 may, for example without limitation, be used to storeadditional software programs and data. In some embodiments, softwareimplementing the systems and methods described herein can be stored on astorage medium in the server 1410. Thus, the software can be run fromthe storage medium in the server 1410. In another embodiment, softwareimplementing the systems and methods described herein can be stored on astorage medium in the computer 1402. Thus, the software can be run fromthe storage medium in the computer system 1426. Therefore, in thisembodiment, the software can be used whether or not computer 1402 isconnected to network router 1412. Printer 1408 may be connected directlyto computer 1402, in which case, the computer system 1426 can printwhether or not it is connected to network router 1412.

With reference to FIG. 15, an embodiment of a special-purpose computersystem 1500 is shown. The above methods may be implemented bycomputer-program products that direct a computer system to perform theactions of the above-described methods and components. Each suchcomputer-program product may comprise sets of instructions (codes)embodied on a computer-readable medium that directs the processor of acomputer system to perform corresponding actions. The instructions maybe configured to run in sequential order, or in parallel (such as underdifferent processing threads), or in a combination thereof. Afterloading the computer-program products on a general purpose computersystem 1426, it is transformed into the special-purpose computer system1500.

Special-purpose computer system 1500 comprises a computer 1502, amonitor 1506 coupled to computer 1502, one or more additional useroutput devices 1530 (optional) coupled to computer 1502, one or moreuser input devices 1540 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, track ball, touchscreen) coupled to computer 1502, an optional communications interface1550 coupled to computer 1502, a computer-program product 1505 stored ina tangible computer-readable memory in computer 1502. Computer-programproduct 1505 directs system 1500 to perform the above-described methods.Computer 1502 may include one or more processors 1560 that communicatewith a number of peripheral devices via a bus subsystem 1590. Theseperipheral devices may include user output device(s) 1530, user inputdevice(s) 1540, communications interface 1550, and a storage subsystem,such as random access memory (RAM) 1570 and non-volatile storage drive1580 (e.g., disk drive, optical drive, solid state drive), which areforms of tangible computer-readable memory.

Computer-program product 1505 may be stored in non-volatile storagedrive 1580 or another computer-readable medium accessible to computer1502 and loaded into memory 1570. Each processor 1560 may comprise amicroprocessor, such as a microprocessor from Intel® or Advanced MicroDevices, Inc.®, or the like. To support computer-program product 1505,the computer 1502 runs an operating system that handles thecommunications of product 1505 with the above-noted components, as wellas the communications between the above-noted components in support ofthe computer-program product 1505. Exemplary operating systems includeWindows® or the like from Microsoft® Corporation, Solaris® from Oracle®,LINUX, UNIX, and the like.

User input devices 1540 include all possible types of devices andmechanisms to input information to computer system 1502. These mayinclude a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a scanner, a digital drawing pad,a touch screen incorporated into the display, audio input devices suchas voice recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. In various embodiments, user input devices 1540 are typicallyembodied as a computer mouse, a trackball, a track pad, a joystick,wireless remote, a drawing tablet, a voice command system. User inputdevices 1540 typically allow a user to select objects, icons, text andthe like that appear on the monitor 1506 via a command such as a clickof a button or the like. User output devices 1530 include all possibletypes of devices and mechanisms to output information from computer1502. These may include a display (e.g., monitor 1506), printers,non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc.

Communications interface 1550 provides an interface to othercommunication networks 1595 and devices and may serve as an interface toreceive data from and transmit data to other systems, WANs and/or theInternet 1418. Embodiments of communications interface 1550 typicallyinclude an Ethernet card, a modem (telephone, satellite, cable, ISDN), a(asynchronous) digital subscriber line (DSL) unit, a FireWire®interface, a USB® interface, a wireless network adapter, and the like.For example without limitation, communications interface 1550 may becoupled to a computer network, to a FireWire® bus, or the like. In otherembodiments, communications interface 1550 may be physically integratedon the motherboard of computer 1502, and/or may be a software program,or the like.

RAM 1570 and non-volatile storage drive 1580 are examples of tangiblecomputer-readable media configured to store data such ascomputer-program product embodiments of the present invention, includingexecutable computer code, human-readable code, or the like. Other typesof tangible computer-readable media include floppy disks, removable harddisks, optical storage media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, bar codes,semiconductor memories such as flash memories, read-only-memories(ROMs), battery-backed volatile memories, networked storage devices, andthe like. RAM 1570 and non-volatile storage drive 1580 may be configuredto store the basic programming and data constructs that provide thefunctionality of various embodiments of the present invention, asdescribed above.

Software instruction sets that provide the functionality of the presentinvention may be stored in RAM 1570 and non-volatile storage drive 1580.These instruction sets or code may be executed by the processor(s) 1560.RAM 1570 and non-volatile storage drive 1580 may also provide arepository to store data and data structures used in accordance with thepresent invention. RAM 1570 and non-volatile storage drive 1580 mayinclude a number of memories including a main random access memory (RAM)to store of instructions and data during program execution and aread-only memory (ROM) in which fixed instructions are stored. RAM 1570and non-volatile storage drive 1580 may include a file storage subsystemproviding persistent (non-volatile) storage of program and/or datafiles. RAM 1570 and non-volatile storage drive 1580 may also includeremovable storage systems, such as removable flash memory.

Bus subsystem 1590 provides a mechanism to allow the various componentsand subsystems of computer 1502 communicate with each other as intended.Although bus subsystem 1590 is shown schematically as a single bus,alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilize multiple bussesor communication paths within the computer 1502.

Specific details are given in the above description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it is understoodthat the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details.For example without limitation, circuits may be shown in block diagramsin order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In otherinstances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, andtechniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoidobscuring the embodiments.

Implementation of the techniques, blocks, steps and means describedabove may be done in various ways. For example without limitation, thesetechniques, blocks, steps and means may be implemented in hardware,software, or a combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, theprocessing units may be implemented within one or more applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs),digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices(PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described above, and/or a combination thereof.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a processwhich is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a swim diagram, a dataflow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although adepiction may describe the operations as a sequential process, many ofthe operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. Inaddition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process isterminated when its operations are completed, but could have additionalsteps not included in the figure. A process may correspond to a method,a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a processcorresponds to a function, its termination corresponds to a return ofthe function to the calling function or the main function.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,scripting languages, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardwaredescription languages, and/or any combination thereof. When implementedin software, firmware, middleware, scripting language, and/or microcode,the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may bestored in a machine readable medium such as a storage medium. A codesegment or machine-executable instruction may represent a procedure, afunction, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, asoftware package, a script, a class, or any combination of instructions,data structures, and/or program statements. A code segment may becoupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/orreceiving information, data, arguments, parameters, and/or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed,forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

For a firmware and/or software implementation, the methodologies may beimplemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) thatperform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable mediumtangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing themethodologies described herein. For example without limitation, softwarecodes may be stored in a memory. Memory may be implemented within theprocessor or external to the processor. As used herein the term “memory”refers to any type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, orother storage medium and is not to be limited to any particular type ofmemory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory isstored.

Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium” may representone or more memories for storing data, including read only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic diskstorage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/orother machine readable mediums for storing information. The term“machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to portable orfixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and/or various otherstorage mediums capable of storing that contain or carry instruction(s)and/or data.

While the principles of the disclosure have been described above inconnection with specific apparatuses and methods, it is to be clearlyunderstood that this description is made only by way of example and notas limitation on the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for telephone number provisioning,comprising: facilitating, via a telephony management system, a userinterface configured to provide access to telephony information, whereinat least some of the telephony information is retained in a telephonyinformation repository; processing, via the telephony management system,information about a first location specified for an entity and/or anindividual; determining, via the telephony management system, a regionof interest based at least in part on the first location; processing,via the telephony management system, a set of telephony informationretained in the telephony information repository based at least in parton the region of interest; identifying, via the telephony managementsystem, one or more rate centers corresponding to the region of interestbased at least in part on the set of telephony information; determining,via the telephony management system, telephone number inventory withrespect to at least one of the one or more rate centers corresponding tothe region of interest based at least in part on the set of telephonyinformation, the determining the telephone number inventory comprising:categorizing at least some of the telephone number inventory accordingto availability of telephone numbers to determine a first set oftelephone numbers, the first set of telephone numbers being availablefor assignment; determining, via the telephony management system, localcalling characteristics of the first set of telephone numbers; causing,via the telephony management system, indication to the user interfaceof: availability of telephone numbers for assignment within the regionof interest based at least in part on the first set of telephonenumbers; and the local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers; wherein the user interface presents graphical indiciathat distinguishes the local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers; identifying, via the telephony management system, oneor more of the first set of telephone numbers based at least in part ona user selection; and assigning, via the telephony management system,the one or more of the first set of telephone numbers to the entityand/or the individual.
 2. The method for telephone number provisioningof claim 1, wherein the entity and/or the individual and the informationabout the first location correspond to a business.
 3. The method fortelephone number provisioning of claim 1, wherein the information aboutthe first location is based at least in part on first user inputresponsive to a first set of one or more user-selectable options beingpresented via the user interface.
 4. A system for telephone numberprovisioning, comprising: one or more network interfaces configured toprovide access to one or more networks; one or more processors coupledto the one or more network interfaces, the one or more processors toexecute instructions to: facilitate a user interface configured toprovide access to telephony information, wherein at least some of thetelephony information is retained in a telephony information repository;process information about a first location specified for an entityand/or an individual; determine a region of interest based at least inpart on the first location; process a set of telephony informationretained in the telephony information repository based at least in parton the region of interest; identify one or more rate centerscorresponding to the region of interest based at least in part on theset of telephony information; determine telephone number inventory withrespect to at least one of the one or more rate centers corresponding tothe region of interest based at least in part on the set of telephonyinformation, the determining the telephone number inventory comprising:categorizing at least some of the telephone number inventory accordingto availability of telephone numbers to determine a first set oftelephone numbers, the first set of telephone numbers being availablefor assignment; determine local calling characteristics of the first setof telephone numbers; cause indication to the user interface of:availability of telephone numbers for assignment within the region ofinterest based at least in part on the first set of telephone numbers;and the local calling characteristics of the first set of telephonenumbers; wherein the user interface presents graphical indicia thatdistinguishes the local calling characteristics of the first set oftelephone numbers; and one or more storage media coupled to the one ormore processors to retain the instructions; identify one or more of thefirst set of telephone numbers based at least in part on a userselection; and assign the one or more of the first set of telephonenumbers to the entity and/or the individual.
 5. The system for telephonenumber provisioning of claim 4, wherein the entity and/or the individualand the information about the first location correspond to a business.6. The system for telephone number provisioning of claim 4, wherein theinformation about the first location is based at least in part on firstuser input responsive to a first set of one or more user-selectableoptions being presented via the user interface.
 7. One or morenon-transitory machine-readable media having machine-readableinstructions for execution and when executed by one or more computers orother processing devices, cause the one or more computers or otherprocessing devices to: facilitate a user interface configured to provideaccess to telephony information, wherein at least some of the telephonyinformation is retained in a telephony information repository; processinformation about a first location specified for an entity and/or anindividual; determine a region of interest based at least in part on thefirst location; process a set of telephony information retained in thetelephony information repository based at least in part on the region ofinterest; identify one or more rate centers corresponding to the regionof interest based at least in part on the set of telephony information;determine telephone number inventory with respect to at least one of theone or more rate centers corresponding to the region of interest basedat least in part on the set of telephony information, the determiningthe telephone number inventory comprising: categorizing at least some ofthe telephone number inventory according to availability of telephonenumbers to determine a first set of telephone numbers, the first set oftelephone numbers being available for assignment; determine localcalling characteristics of the first set of telephone numbers; causeindication to the user interface of: availability of telephone numbersfor assignment within the region of interest based at least in part onthe first set of telephone numbers; and the local callingcharacteristics of the first set of telephone numbers; wherein the userinterface presents graphical indicia that distinguishes the localcalling characteristics of the first set of telephone numbers; identifyone or more of the first set of telephone numbers based at least in parton a user selection; and assign the one or more of the first set oftelephone numbers to the entity and/or the individual.
 8. The one ormore non-transitory, machine-readable media of claim 7, wherein theentity and/or the individual and the information about the firstlocation correspond to a business.
 9. The one or more non-transitory,machine-readable media of claim 7, wherein the information about thefirst location is based at least in part on first user input responsiveto a first set of one or more user-selectable options being presentedvia the user interface.